PurposefuLiving

It lives!

Thanks, Joni, for the encouraging words.

Okay, you just said you missed my blog, but that WAS encouraging for me :) I was pretty sure nobody was missing them at all...

I've been remiss in keeping up on my regular blog reading as well -- no April, Rhonda, or Cheryl (my main ones) or even the others I check in on frequently. So if I don't know the details of your lives right now, forgive me.

The truth is, my netbook suddenly stopped reading my camera's memory card.

I know that sounds simple, but it took 2+ hours on the computer with customer service and I ended up having to mail it in to the company anyway! THEN, after having it gone for 14 days, they returned it with the note that there was nothing wrong with my netbook (they couldn't replicate the problem), so I was up a creek. Seriously, I'm upset about it because it WAS supposed to make blogging easier (didn't have to go out to the office, like I am now...). That was back at the end of May. And then a certain time-consuming person entered my life and...

I'll try and get something with pics up soon.

Love to you all.

Huggin' my Honey

Just a quick post today:

Back in high school, there was this girl that I knew. She'd been in my class since 7th grade, but we'd never been friends on any level. All the same, she was an aquaintence and someone I graduated with. At some point after high school, she found God (got saved/confessed Jesus as her savior, however you want to say it) and began attending the church we both still attend.

Before Neil and I dated, he dated this girl. In fact, the entire first "date" Neil and I had, he talked about losing her as a girlfriend and what he'd done wrong and he sang her praises. (This, as you can imagine, was slightly irritating on a first date!) I kept wondering what he saw in her that I'd missed all those years back in school.

She had decided to get back together with her old boyfriend. They ended up getting married. (As did Neil and I, of course!). Some years later, her husband (who she'd now been with nearly 10 years or so all together) developed brain cancer. Serious stuff. Both of them really came to the Lord through it, though. They had a little girl and named her Hope.

Soon, the cancer was back.

Her husband fought it (with her help and the prayers of hundreds of people) for eight months. There were down times, but also moments of triumph -- of significant hope. Throughout all of it, she journaled online and over those months, I finally saw what Neil had been talking about. This was a woman of strength, character, and determination. Here was a woman after God's own heart, striving always for His best for her best friend.

This morning, her husband finally grabbed Jesus' hand and walked into eternity.

I cannot describe the genuine sorrow I feel for my former classmate and her daughter (who, incidentally, is exactly three days older than Jorgen). I do not "feel sorry" for them, but I can't imagine the struggle, the pain, the hurt that they have gone through, are going through today, and will continue for a while to come. I know there is nothing I can do to make it all better, but Neil and I will continue to pray for them as we have over the past few months. It might seem weird to pray for your husband's former girlfriend, but there is an innocent love that Neil carries for her still that he's passed on to me.

There are no comparisons in life when it comes to loss - each relationship is different from others, of course. But I know Neil is aching for this Godly woman because he still feels the ache of loss from his first wife and daughter. I ache for her because I "lost" my first husband (and though it wasn't a death per se, it almost felt worse because there was no closure and because I lost every single friend/family member that he'd brought to our relationship). Though we can't imagine her own personal, private pain, we can reflect on some of our own and know that sometimes life is just plain HARD.

May God be with her today and in the days to come. May she face her future knowing that God is already there, waiting to help her through each moment of each day.

And in that context, I hope all my readers will hug their loved ones a little tighter tonight. Forget those petty complaints you have with them. Look them in the eye and tell them you love them, and then fully reflect in your heart what those words mean.

God bless you and keep you in His care.

In the Spirit of the Season

 
A friend at church volunteers with the 2-3 yr olds for our MOPS (Moms Of PreSchoolers) group and last night she relayed this story that occurred the day before when the girls were in their "class."

The Moppets had their annual visit from the Easter Bunny on Tuesday morning. Here are the girls with the same bunny back in spring of 2007 (when they were a few months old):

The teacher was trying to get the kids to warm up to this imposing figure. (Hey, they ARE only 2 or 3 years old!)

"What color are the bunny's eyes?" she asked the class. They murmured their answers.

"What color is his bow tie?" They answered again.

"See his cute pink nose? Isn't that cute?" she asked. They were all staring.

"And look at his two front teeth sticking out! What do you think he uses them for?"

There was silence in the room, and then my sweet little Pippa deadpanned,

"He will kill us." 

Um.... I'm not sure HOW to react to that! I laughed until tears came out of my eyes, but then I have a morbid sense of humor. NO idea where her response came from!

Anyone know of a legitimate use for old batteries??

Friday night, Neil got home around 8:30 and bid farewell to his guys for the weekend. He was heading into the house about 8:45 when a car pulled up.

In our lawn. On the super-mushy soft grass.

Yes, this did damage and irritated him straight off.

The guy behind the wheel of the old beater (think missing front grill) rolled down his window and asked Neil, "Hey, you got any used batteries you don't want?"

Neil, unusually gruff, answered, "No. Who are you?!"

The man answered, "Eric Schlangen." He did not introduce the teenage boy in the passenger seat.

"Where are you from?" asked Neil.

"Paynesville. Yeah, most people think we're just looking for old batteries to use to make meth."

Neil answered, "Well, you drive an old beater onto my lawn in the pitch black of a Friday night and ask me for used batteries; it don't look very good, that's for sure!"

The guy didn't even pause. He asked, "Do any of your neighbors have any?" and basically drove off.

When Neil relayed this strange story to me, I wondered what on earth OTHER use they would have for old batteries. Neil insists (always giving people the benefit of the doubt!) that because the guy brought it up and had what appeared to be his son with him, that it wasn't for meth use.

I disagree.

Having been around meth users I can say that in general they are more desperate than intelligent and the guy is certainly MORE suspicious for bringing it up in the first place.

Anyway, living in a pretty rural home, I try and keep my eyes out for stuff like this, knowing that meth labs are pretty well-known to be a rural phenomenon. I'm also concerned about people driving in and scoping out our property with plans to come back for a raid later (if you know anything about tools/etc. it'd be pretty easy to make off with $100's or $1,000's of dollars of stuff from properties like ours). I'm glad I live within sight of the highway, which is a bit of a deterrant to thieves.

Crazy.

I've also had some scary/heartbreaking/life-changing experiences with meth and am determined to fight this plague in my community. THE FIGHT CAN BE WON!

♪ When April Sauers... May Come Your Way...♫

 
♫...She brings the flowers, That bloom in May...♪

We met at a dentist office. Isn't that the start to every great friendship? No? hmmm... Let me try again:

I have a great friend; one that I don't get to see very often, or even talk with much anymore... but true friendship can survive such droughts.

April has introduced me to many wonderful things in life:

-Typepad Blogging

-Flylady

-Motivated Moms

-The Dinner Connection

Not to mention that she does wonderful (free!) photography for me:

  

But it's not what she does (or CAN DO) for me that makes me love her.

It's who she is. I admire the way she goes confidently in the direction of her own dreams, how she is not afraid to put her family first, whatever that may mean to onlookers.

We certainly don't agree on everything, but she's one of the few people that not only lets me express my own viewpoints on matters, but encourages me to dig in deep with God and discover what He has for ME, and not to worry about what others are doing.

She has welcomed me into a group of friends that have upheld me during trying times and who have been kind enough to laugh at all my lame jokes and ribbing. She includes me in activities - something that makes me feel like a valued friend.

And to her this day, I say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

 

Thank you for being my friend and I hope today was special. Miss ya!   ;)

Tennis Shoes: Fail

I SWEAR this is my last :Fail post!

Maybe I'm just feeling inadequate as a mom/wife/decent human being. I dunno.

Coincidentally (if you believe in coincidence...), my devotional this morning was on finding contentment in your life and the most emphatic point was to NOT focus on the negative, but rather find God's hand in everything.

BUT

Yesterday we stopped at WallyWorld to buy the girls some new shoes (and, they insisted, Jorgen needed a pair of sunglasses for himself... pic to follow!).

I made Prairie put back a pink pair of Disney princess shoes because they lit up and I didn't see any others that lit up, so I didn't want her to have light-up shoes and Piper not. Piper picked out some silver/blue/purple Tinkerbell shoes and Prairie picked out a pair of Strawberry Shortcake ones (pink, of course).

Later that evening, I heard Prairie stomping around the house. Suddenly she ran into the room and shouted, "Look, Mom!" and stomped her foot on the floor.

The strawberries on the velcro closures danced with light.

Sigh...

My consolation is that Pippa doesn't seem to care. Not much, at least. (Hopefully Prairie will get soon get over her repeated declaration, "My shoes light up, but Piper's shoes do not light up!")

I asked each of them to hold them up for me to get a picture of their new shoes this morning:

 
  

Sleeping Toddler: Fail

Starting last Sunday morning, I went 72 hours on less than 10 hours of sleep total.

That sucked.

(Anyone who knows me knows that one of my LEAST favorite things in the whole world is lack of sleep. Even when I was little, I was called The Bear if I didn't get all my sleep in! It makes me a not-good person, and thus a very not-good mom. or wife. Poor Neil.)

I vaguely recall going through this stage with the girls. Briefly.

But I can hardly stand it with Jorgen. He's been such an easier baby all-around, and it kills me to have to deal with this issue now, pregnant and cranky as I am already!

It started as an "innocent" I-don't-want-to-go-to-bed-yet protest and is continuing on many days later. I feel that I've tried EVERYTHING. Being nice. Being mean. Driving him around in the van. Letting him stay up late (who knew a toddler could physically stay awake until after 1:30 in the morning?!)

So far, the only thing that's "working" is to lay him down, rub his tummy a minute and then lay down on the floor next to his crib and wait for him to go to sleep. This has NOT boded well for my aching body, but it's kept my sanity more intact than fighting with him.

Now, I'm a CIO (Cry It Out) Mom normally. I would have let him throw his precious Bear-Bear on the floor (in what I assume to be a desperate attempt to stay awake since he can't sleep without it) and just cry until he was so exhausted that he had to just lay down and go to sleep. BUT, I found out that this kid can cry (that is, SCREAM) for hours.

And with a small house, two sleeping preschoolers nearby and a hubby that NEEDS a full night's sleep, I can't indulge that method with him.

I hope this is a phase. Don't know what triggered it -- physically? (getting molars, had an earache, etc.) psychologically? (Mom left once, will she again?, too many new thought-processes to settle down easily, etc.) spiritually? (are there invisible nefarious forces at work here?)  or some combination, but I can only pray that it passes -- and passes QUICKLY!

Any advice is welcome, but be warned that I've spent a couple of hours on the internet trying to find something helpful and all I've come up with is that this seems to be a normal phase without one simple cause, or one simple solution!

Here's my baby this morning (sleeping in, since he was up until 10:30!). He IS adorable, though methinks he's getting to be a BIG boy and oughtta start learning to utilize his space a little more efficiently!

 

Mardi Gras: Fail

Last Tuesday, at the last minute, I decided to throw a mini-Mardi-Gras party.

I had no other reason except that I needed an excuse to have a "theme" to the day. (Well, that's not completely true: I also was "kicking off" my Lenten observations, but that's for another post...)

The menu consisted of:

Chicken Creole

King Cake

Virgin Hurricanes

The first thing I had to do was find a couple of people to share in the celebration.

Adam/Amber? busy

Mom/Dad? sick/gone

neighbors? all have bunches of kids that I didn't have the quantity of food to support, plus I hate having people's kids over on a weeknight when they'll probably stay way past my kids' bedtime and throw the week out of cahoots... plus it was totally last-minute, which is no fun for parents...

Anyway, struck out on inviting people...

By the time we had supper, Prairie and Jorgen were cranky and Pippa was still feeling the effects of a weekend illness and didn't even join us (she ate Jell-O on the couch instead...). Neil was unexpectedly late (well, he had said he'd be home early to watch kids so I could run to the store, but I should have known better!) and I had to change the menu late in the day to Southern Gumbo on Couscous.

At the table, Prairie picked at her food and finally announced, "Mom, I don't like this food."

"Well," I answered, "you don't have to like it, you just have to eat it. Sometimes we have to eat stuff we don't like that well." To my surprise, Neil then muttered,

"Even as adults..."

He didn't like it either. At all.

So I thought, heck with it, and served the cake.

How could a cake this pretty be so awful?

Turns out, King Cake is really more of a cinnamon bread than anything else. Tastes like brunch.

And Virgin Hurricanes? Well, I had to invent them because, well, let's face it: real Hurricanes are just orange juice, pineapple juice, and lots of rum. So take away the alcohol and... more breakfast. So I made shakes out of orange juice, pineapple juice (the only stuff I had was leftover from shakes, so it had a bit of banana and ice cream in it!), ice, karo syrup and vanilla.

They were as sickeningly sweet as the real thing, but I'm not so sure that's a good thing. Everyone was happy to be done with food and move on to bath and bed!

Oh well, try again next year maybe. And get around to making those Mardi Gras masks and crowns with the kids! (Oh, to have the time and energy...)

I will post soon about my Lenten practices and how they are going. Thanks for continuing to check in on me, everyone!

God Bless!

Two more months

Well, it's been two more months since I've posted.

Sad.

I don't carry my camera around like I should, and obviously don't take pictures all the time like I used to...

Sad.

I'd like to say that I have an excuse, but really? I'm just not sure I have the energy/motivation to right now.

Sad.

On my itenerary for the week/month:

1. Get office work done. This includes all filing and tax prep for 2009. Yish. Plus, it's winter, so that's the time Neil gets in the office, gets a bug in his pants, and finds a million little tasks for me to do. Yish yish.

2. We're going to a concert on Saturday night at the Xcel (Brad Paisley! Yay!). While I'm looking forward to it, it means nearly 24 hours of lost work time. (From the time we leave around 3:00 until after church the next day). Plus there's the big Vike's playoff game starting noon on Sunday...

3. Get all Christmas stuff taken down and put away!

4. Get my room cleaned out -- still have a pile of laundry because I'm still not entirely in maternity clothes. I'm at that mid-way point where I can (and do!) switch back and forth between maternity and "regular" stuff. This point happened at 13 weeks last time, but this baby is WEIRD.

5. Get the rest of housework done and MAINTAINED.

6. Get Christmas thank-you's out. (ha!)

7. Finish drafting the Easter drama. Write the youth drama. Continue working on one Christmas drama while starting a completely new one to fit the requirements decided upon at DOVE. Start writing that book for which Amber gave me a great idea. Draft outlines for two different speaking engagements coming in February and March.

8. Get some legitimate exercise. (Running after preschoolers doesn't count!)

9. Sit down at the piano and try and remember how the thing works. (Learn 5 worship songs for prison ministry in February.)

10. Carve out some time for the actual important things in my life - God, family, church.

So there's my list. It's exhausting to think about. A lot of it ties into my resolutions for the year and I really hope to (NEED to) get a leg up on them!

I hope to post more and more often, but I know better than to make any promises for now :)

Halloween

(I like this pic because Jorgen is wielding the carving knife!)

Is THIS how, Mom??

The final results!

Cruella and her amazing dalmatians... We won a prize for our costumes!

(All the men wanted to know where I'd gotten the thigh-high red boots that are hidden in this pic. Now that I revealed I'm pregnant, I've had a couple of requests to borrow them! lol)

Hope everyone had a great holiday. I'm in full-on Thanksgiving mode now. :D